Application of MLS® laser on muscular contracture caused by functional overload in a young athlete - case report

Galanti G., Moretti A., Lo Nero L.
Energy for Health [9], 2012

Myalgic fatigue (or muscular contracture caused by functional overload) is clinically detected as an unpleasant feeling of one or more muscles, that appears within 24 hours after exercise and disappears in 5-7 days. In athletes, often the muscular contracture is not due to pathological alterations of muscle metabolism, but rather to a condition of lack of training, as typically happens at the beginning of the training season or after a period of enforced rest due to trauma or injury. Laser therapy has long been widely used to treat muscle pain and contracture, and recently it has also been proposed to prevent injuries from overwork in athletes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an advanced IR laser system, the MLS laser, in combination with the other components of standard therapy for the treatment of muscular contracture. MLS system is a laser device with special characteristics: it is equipped with synchronized combination of continuous and pulsed emissions. The first one (that may emit also in pulsed mode) with λ=808 nm and maximum power of 1W, the other one with λ=905 nm and peak power of 25W. Here we report the case of a 16 years old athlete in good health state and with no previous muscle injury. The athlete reported a rectus femoris pain after a work of multiple running on 200 meters. After 3 days of MLS treatment, associated with mobilization of the muscle, stretching and eccentric contraction exercise, the athlete reported negative clinical examination for pain and muscle contracture and was available to work with the team. Studies are in progress to confirm our findings increasing the number of cases and also evaluating the efficacy of MLS laser therapy on different types of injury.